The A's came to the winter meetings with essentially one goal: to further their search for a shortstop.

By Monday evening, Oakland already was in action and exploring a potential deal for Miami shortstop Yunel Escobar, a player about whom the team had inquired at the trade deadline, when Escobar was in Toronto. Talks are "ongoing," according to major-league sources, and are not believed to be centered on anyone on Oakland's big-league roster.

Escobar is considered a solid player but often is described as immature, and he was suspended last season after writing a gay slur on his eye-black. Though the A's decided to trade for Arizona's Stephen Drew in August rather than pursue Escobar, the team quietly has been doing its due diligence on Escobar's off-field behavior in the event he becomes available, sources said.

The A's are sensitive to the issue of homophobia in sports and suspended a top minor-league prospect for several months in 2011 for a homophobic comment on Twitter.

Drew remains Oakland's top free-agent target, but Drew might be out of the team's price range, particularly if he is looking for three years or more. During a media session, A's general manager Billy Beane said that he plans to meet with Drew's agent, Scott Boras, "sooner rather than later."

The other free-agent possibility, according to Beane, is Japanese free agent Hiroyuki Nakajima, 30, who did not sign with the Yankees last year after New York won the bid to negotiate with him.

"He looks like a hitter," said A's manager Bob Melvin, who said the team knows "quite a bit about him."

According to Japanese sources, Nakajima is more interested in assurances of playing time than an expensive contract, and the A's might be the team best able to provide the chance to start.

The A's have been in contact with another of their free agents, starter Brandon McCarthy, but expected that there would be strong competition for the right-hander and they're right: The Chronicle has learned that among the clubs already expressing interest are the Red Sox, the White Sox, the Cubs, the Royals, the Diamondbacks and the Twins - and the Angels and Rangers also are expected to join in.

"That door is always open until it's closed," Melvin said. "We're not going to be a market-maker - we're going to sit back, see if we're able to afford him, see if we can be somewhat creative. There will probably be a little dialogue, we'll see where he's at when he narrows it down a bit."

One reason the A's re-signed Bartolo Colon to a one-year deal is that the team does not believe that many free-agent pitchers will agree to anything less than a multiyear contract.

But according to industry sources, McCarthy would consider a one-year deal - although it is expected to be worth significantly more than Colon's should he go that route in order to prove that he is healthy after emergency brain surgery in September and after several seasons of arm injuries.